Abstract
Driven-dissipative systems in two dimensions can differ substantially from their equilibrium counterparts. In particular, a dramatic loss of off-diagonal algebraic order and superfluidity has been predicted to occur due to the interplay between coherent dynamics and external drive and dissipation in the thermodynamic limit. We show here that the order adopted by the system can be substantially altered by a simple, experimentally viable, tuning of the driving process. More precisely, by considering the long-wavelength phase dynamics of a polariton quantum fluid in the optical parametric oscillator regime, we demonstrate that simply changing the strength of the pumping mechanism in an appropriate parameter range can substantially alter the level of effective spatial anisotropy induced by the driving laser, and move the system into distinct scaling regimes. These include: (i) the classic algebraically ordered superfluid below the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition, as in equilibrium; (ii) the non-equilibrium, long-wave-length fluctuation dominated Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) phase; and the two associated topological defect dominated disordered phases caused by proliferation of (iii) entropic BKT vortex-antivortex pairs or (iv) repelling vortices in the KPZ phase. Further, by analysing the renormalization group flow in a finite system, we examine the length scales associated with these phases, and assess their observability in current experimental conditions.
Highlights
The concept of universality permits us to order and classify a great variety of different physical systems in terms of their common collective long-wavelength behavior close to a critical point
IVA, we have shown that the infinite polariton system can be tuned between two different universality classes, with completely different large-scale behaviors, by changing the exciton-photon detuning, and the properties of the drive such as the pump power, Fp, and wave vector kp— realizable in current experiments
We find that in the low-pump-power regime of the optical parametric oscillator (OPO) configuration, the long-distance physics is governed by the nonequilibrium fixed point of the KPZ universality class
Summary
The concept of universality permits us to order and classify a great variety of different physical systems in terms of their common collective long-wavelength behavior close to a critical point. Two elementary ingredients that are both present in excitonpolariton condensates, routinely produced in semiconductor microcavities [19,20], provide a natural realization of KPZ physics in any dimension, in principle [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29] These are (i) a gapless mode, whose existence is protected by the phase-rotation symmetry of the polariton degrees of freedom, and (ii) the breaking of detailed balance on the microscopic level due to the simultaneous presence of reversible coherent dynamics and driven dissipation, realized naturally because of the strong pumping of the systems to ensure a finite many-body excitation density. We elaborate in more detail on our key results, and provide a guide through the paper
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